


Rising Force

by nagi_schwarz



Series: Comment Fic 2017 [8]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Fusion, Gen, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-13
Updated: 2017-01-13
Packaged: 2018-09-17 05:20:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9307091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: Written for the comment_fic prompt: "Stargate Atlantis, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, Across the Universe."Rodney McKay travels across the universe to the Pegasus galaxy to the lost city of the Ancients, Atlantis, and nearly dies his first day there. He would have, if not for a Jedi named John.Or: Rising, parts one and two, as retold with Jedi.





	

Rodney had won that Sears Drama Award when he was twelve fair and square. He was a damn good actor. His acting skills had seen him through many a tense moment in his household growing up. They were the only reason he was able to keep a straight face as they fired up the Stargate and started sending personnel through to Atlantis.

Atlantis. The actual lost city of Atlantis, crown jewel of the Ancient Empire, the source of some of the most amazing technology in the galaxy, if not the universe. Rodney’s heart was beating, but when Elizabeth turned to him, he smiled calmly, enigmatically. Of course he was excited. It was Atlantis!

He’d more or less handpicked his team of scientists, and Colonel Sumner had hand-picked his company of Marines. The only Air Force officer was First Lieutenant Nathan O’Neill, who was outside the chain of command and was along for the ride because he had the ATA gene, the strongest expression of anyone they’d found so far. Sumner was surprisingly nice to him, polite to him, sometimes bordering on respectful, whereas O’Neill tended toward sarcasm and insolence, though he managed to skirt the edges of being outright insubordinate.

O’Neill looked barely eighteen to Rodney’s eyes, but everyone seemed to accept that he was a fully-qualified officer, and the times Rodney had seen him around base he seemed comfortable giving orders, taking orders, and handling the weapons he bristled with when he was in full tac gear.

Rodney’s first steps in Atlantis, first steps across the universe, were careful. Atlantis had its own gate room, and a flight of stairs led up toward a series of consoles.

Summer ordered his soldiers to fan out, sweep for people. The city was dim, and the light had a wavering, blue quality to it. Given that most Ancient tech had blue-tinted light, Rodney guessed that the higher end of the light spectrum was just part of the Ancient aesthetic. The city seemed, by all appearances, deserted.

O’Neill, rifle shouldered, headed for the stairs, and when he stepped on the first one, it lit up. Ancient text glowed. Elizabeth narrowed her eyes, read the inscription.

“The city must be reacting to your gene,” Rodney said, following O’Neill up the stairs.

“Most cities react to my good looks,” O’Neill drawled, but each step lit as he ascended. He was waking up the city.

“Here, initiate this console,” Rodney said, beckoning O’Neill toward what looked like a central console. “Let’s see if we can’t turn on the lights all around.”

The Marines fanned out farther and farther, and their arrhythmic cries of ‘clear!’ formed a curious under-symphony to Rodney’s racing mind.

He’d spent months studying Ancient so he could speak to the Ancients, read their textbooks, understand their science, but seeing the console hum to life, text flying across the screen, made his mind go blank.

“You might as well call me Lieutenant Light Switch.” But O’Neill lowered his rifle, extended a hand, and furrowed his brow, and the buttons on the console lit up. “What does it say?”

“If you gave me a moment, I could translate,” Rodney said, and promptly tuned out O’Neill’s existence. He read, and he typed, and his pulse skyrocketed. “Sumner, pull your men back, pull them back now!” 

Sumner, on the radio with some of his men, paused. “McKay, we need to secure the city before we can move our people in further -”

“The city is underwater, and the only thing keeping ten thousand feet of ocean water from crushing us all is the shields, and the power to the shields is almost depleted because the city has been submerged for ten thousand years,” Rodney said. “Your men traipsing about and waking things up is draining the city’s ZPM faster. I need to figure out how to raise the city before we all drown.”

O’Neill extended a hand over a nearby console and said, “Off,” and its panels and buttons flickered out.

“Are you sure?” Elizabeth asked.

“I’m damn sure,” Rodney said. Sumner shouted for his men to _Fall back! Fall back!_

Elizabeth hurried up the stairs to peer over Rodney’s shoulder at the series of alert messages streaming across the screen. “Can you raise the city?”

“I don’t know how,” Rodney said. “I don’t think there’s enough power to raise the city, not without losing shields, not without -”

Elizabeth pointed to a corner of the screen. “What’s that?”

Rodney tapped a button to maximize the alert. “Power spiking in a distant quadrant. I can’t shut it down remotely. It’s tapped into the ZPM on an auxiliary circuit. O’Neill, you’re with me. Elizabeth, watch the console and stay in contact on the radios. Sumner, give me two of your men with the Gene. We need to go shut that down, and now.”

“You can’t just go wandering off -” Sumner began.

“I will, or we all die.”

“You have no idea what’s out there.”

“That’s why I want some Marines!”

Sumner glanced at Elizabeth.

She said, “Do what he says.”

Sumner lifted his chin at the gaggle of Marines who’d formed a ring around the scientists to prevent them from wandering off. “Markham, Stackhouse, go with Dr. McKay.”

Rodney reached for his flashlight. “We need to navigate to a distant quadrant as quickly as possible without draining the ZPM further. I need all of you to consciously power down anything that tries to power up while we go, and, of course, protect me.”

O’Neill scanned the alert. “How the hell are we supposed to get there before we die?”

“We run,” Rodney said. He hated running. He hated dying more. “Elizabeth, navigate for us.”

She nodded, and the four of them set off.

Where Atlantis had seemed shadowed and mysterious before, now it was dark and terrifying. It was a city deserted, a city dying, a city determined to kill them all with its last breath. Elizabeth was on Rodney’s radio, telling them where to turn, where to go. O’Neill took the lead, being young and spry. Rodney was out of breath before they reached the end of the second corridor, and he spared a breath to curse O’Neill’s youth. In addition to being young, he outranked both of the Marines despite both of them having at least a decade on him, and he seemed - comfortable, almost. Like near-death was normal to him.

He was in constant contact with Elizabeth, narrating their position and their path, and how the hell could he talk at the same time? Markham and Stackhouse were lighting the way with the flashlights on their rifles.

All the while, Rodney was picturing the countdown on the console screen, the ZPM depleting, depleting faster.

Up ahead there was a faint blue glow.

“Shut it down!” Rodney shouted.

O’Neill stretched out a hand, like a telekinetic in a bad scifi movie, then shook his head. “It’s not responding to me. Markham, Stackhouse, help me!”

The four of them spilled into the room, and Rodney saw - coffins. Upright coffins with glass lids. They were empty. All of them save one, the one that was glowing blue. O’Neill told Weir they’d reached their destination and asked her to monitor the energy levels.

Markham, Stackhouse, and O’Neill stood around the coffin, hands outstretched.

“Think it off,” Rodney insisted. He ran his hands over it, but he couldn’t find a button to open the lid, or a plug to a power source. The blue light was glowing, pulsing, brighter and brighter.

“We’re trying,” O’Neill said.

“Well think harder!”

And then the lid opened with a hiss. Icy mist spilled out, tendrils like fingers catching at O’Neill’s ankles. He swore and backpedaled, sweeping Rodney back with him, rifle shouldered and aimed at the coffin.

“Rodney, the ZPM is almost depleted,” Elizabeth said, voice tight with worry. “The shield’s not going to last.”

“There should be enough power to run the gate,” Rodney said. “Hit up the database and find an address for a friendly planet and go.”

“What?”

“Go now,” Rodney said.

“What about -”

“Go, Dr. Weir,” O’Neill said. “We’ve got a handle on this.” His expression was terribly bleak, but he sounded calm.

Elizabeth said, “Jack,” which made no sense at all.

Irritation crossed O’Neill’s face. “Evacuate the city.”

“All right.”

The radio exploded with chatter, orders for ex-fil, and Rodney reached up, switched his radio off. O’Neill did the same.

Markham and Stackhouse also looked grim, rifles shouldered and aimed at the coffin.

Rodney’s heart was hammering against his ribs, and he felt light-headed. They were going to die. He’d finally made it to Atlantis, and now he was going to perish.

The icy mist finally cleared, and Rodney saw - a man. Asleep in the coffin. Perfectly preserved, wearing all black. He was tall and slender. He had dark hair and golden skin, and he was - handsome.

He opened his eyes.

Markham and Stackhouse swore.

The man spoke - Ancient. It didn’t sound at all like Rodney had practiced it. He only caught a couple of familiar words - _pastor_ and _militem_.

Rodney blinked. “You’re a pastor?”

The man stepped forward, hands raised in surrender, and repeated himself.

Rodney caught more words - _servas_ and _ioannes_.

“ _Pastor_ is Latin for ‘shepherd’,” O’Neill said.

“He’s an Ancient shepherd?” Markham asked.

The man’s eyes were bright, hazel-gray-gold-green-blue in the light. He had curiously pointed ears and his dark hair was spiky, messy. He tilted his head, and Rodney felt something thrum through the room, and then the man said,

“My name is John Sheppard, and I am a knight of the New Republic, here to serve you.”

“You can serve us by stopping the city from killing us,” Rodney said.

John frowned, his gaze going distant. “The city will not harm you. She is tired, yes, but -”

“The ZPM is almost out of power and can’t maintain the shields, and the shields are all that stand between us and drowning,” Rodney snapped. “Apparently the city thought it would be a good idea to wake you up, and that drained the remaining ZPM even faster. The city woke you up just in time for you to die.”

The floor shuddered.

John shook his head. “She woke me up because you returned. We will not die.”

“What do you mean, returned?” Stackhouse asked.

“Are you not knights of the Republic?” John tilted his head again, as if listening for something. “The Force is strong with this one.” He gestured to O’Neill.

“The what now?” O’Neill didn’t lower his rifle.

“Obviously his time on the ice has made him crazy,” Rodney said. “Look, can you make the city rise to the surface before the shields fall? Because once the ZPM is fully depleted, the shields will collapse and the immense pressure from the thousands of feet of water above us will crush us. Crush the city on top of us. Whatever. Either way, we drown and die horribly.”

“You wish for me to raise the city to the surface? You have defeated the Wraith, then?”

O’Neill frowned. “The who?”

“Raise the city before we die!” Rodney snapped. Only one Ancient left in the city, and it was the handsome crazy one.

“Yes, Master,” John said, and his gaze went distant once more.

The floor shuddered again.

Heaved.

The entire city groaned, like it was buckling, like it was straining.

Like it was rising upward.

Rodney stared. “Are _you_ making the city rise?”

“You asked it, Master.” John’s gaze was still very distant, but there was a sardonic twist to his lips that Rodney recognized from O’Neill. Insolence.

“Why are you calling me Master? I’m not your Master, I’m Dr. Rodney McKay.”

“I’ve met Ascended Ancients before,” O’Neill said. “They could do things like telekinesis and shoot lightning and set things on fire.”

“He’s not Ascended,” Rodney pointed out. But the city was definitely rising.

John’s face went pale, and his breathing became shallow. His expression turned strained, and Rodney said, “Wait, is this hurting you?”

The city groaned, settling, and suddenly the room was filled with light.

From windows opening, Rodney realized. He spun as sunlight flooded the hallway, illuminating the blue-gray of the walls and floors. The windows had been covered by retractable panels, and now all the panels were retracting, and Rodney could see sun and ocean.

“He did it,” Markham breathed. He cast a spooked look at John and didn’t lower his rifle.

Rodney fumbled his radio on. “Elizabeth, Sumner, are you there?”

No response. They’d made it out of the city, then. Rodney was both relieved and disappointed. Now he’d have to track them down and get them back.

“We have risen,” John said. “What is your bidding, my master?”

“Stop calling me that. It’s Rodney, or McKay.”

“Master Rodney Or McKay.”

“No! Just - just Rodney.”

“Master Just Just Rodney.”

“No. Rodney!”

“Master Rodney.” John was infuriating.

Was this what Jackson felt like, when he was dealing with stupid natives on new planets? Only Rodney’s heart was racing on account of almost dying, and in the sunlight, John was - beautiful.

And still smirking.

“Let’s get back to the gate room and assess the damage done to the city and the ZPM,” Rodney said, turning. He paused. “Do you remember which way we came?”

“You seek the Astria Porta?” John inquired, the picture of politeness.

“Yes. We need to go back there.”

“Follow me.” John bowed slightly at the waist, the way Dr. Kusanagi did sometimes, and strode down the corridor.

Rodney followed along. Markham, Stackhouse, and O’Neill placed themselves between Rodney and John, hands still on their rifles.

“I think we turn here,” Stackhouse said, pointing down a hallway to the left, but John swept past it. He paused at a door and passed his hand over a sensor to the right of the door, and the door slid open to reveal -

A closet.

Being on ice for who knew how many years really had made him insane.

But he stepped inside and made room for the rest of them.

“There’s a closet joke in here somewhere,” O’Neill said, and Markham and Stackhouse stiffened.

Military. DADT. There was a reason Rodney hadn’t told anyone he was bi. And not just because it was no one’s business.

“You want to go to the Astria Porta, yes?” John raised his eyebrows.

“Yes.”

“Then follow me.”

“That’s a closet.”

“It’s a transporter.”

Rodney wondered if John was messing with them. “How does it work?”

John pressed a button on the back wall, and a panel opened, displaying a map of Atlantis. He pointed to the central tower. “The Astria Porta is here.”

Rodney glanced at O’Neill, but he was already stepping into the closet. Markham and Stackhouse followed, more warily, so Rodney trailed after them.

The doors slid shut, and John prodded the panel.

“You said the Force was strong with me.” O’Neill eyed John, who was about the same height as him. Both of them were taller than Rodney. “What’s the Force?”

“It’s the energy created by all living things,” John said. “It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.” He frowned at O’Neill. “You weren’t trained in the Force? Who was your Master?”

“My Master is the United States Air Force,” O’Neill said. “And I have no Force, but I do have a funky gene that lets me use Ancient technology. Does anyone else have the Force?”

John flicked a glance at Markham and Stackhouse. “You also have The Force. But you do not.” This last part he directed to Rodney.

“So the Force is the Gene,” O’Neill said.

“The Force is known by many names.” John shrugged.

“Are we even going anywhere?” Rodney asked, waiting for the sensation of movement, like an elevator.

The doors slid open.

“Oh, well, that’s very disappointing,” Rodney began, but then he saw. They were standing in the gate room. He stared. “How -?”

O’Neill prodded him in the shoulder, and he stepped out, letting the others out behind him.

Gear and equipment boxes were strewn across the floor. The others must have evacuated hastily.

Rodney turned and hurried up the stairs to the console. John followed at a more sedate pace. The stairs lit up under his feet, just as they had for O’Neill. Markham, Stackhouse, and O’Neill followed, eyeing John warily still.

Rodney scanned the console and saw that the ZPM levels were holding. And he saw a gate address for a planet designated _friendly and safe_.

“That must be where they evacuated to,” Rodney said. “We need to find them, tell them it’s safe to come back. I’ll dial the gate.”

“You can’t go alone,” O’Neill said. “Protocol.”

John studied the gate address. “The people of Athos are kind and wise.”

“See? John says they’re nice. I’ll be fine.”

“They were nice ten thousand years ago,” O’Neill said. “You’re not going alone. Markham, Stackhouse, you stay put, be ready to answer incoming transmissions. Doc, I’m going with you. And John - you’re coming with us too.”

“If Master Rodney wishes it.”

“Yes, I wish it. Let’s go, O’Neill.” Rodney dialed the address, watched the wormhole stabilize. Then he trotted down to the gate. O’Neill followed, calling last-minute orders over his shoulder to the two Marines.

John followed, calm and still amused.

“I have a question,” O’Neill said. “How come Rodney’s your master if he doesn’t have The Force?”

“My previous master foresaw that I would be awakened by one with blue eyes, and he would be my new master for the new age,” John said.

“Foresaw?” Rodney snorted. Except John was obviously an Ancient, judging by how the city reacted to him, and Ancients had had all kinds of abilities that seemed magical or superhuman. John wasn’t ascended, though. He was flesh and blood. Very nice flesh, to say the least. Easy on the eyes.

O’Neill went through the gate first. John and Rodney stepped through side-by-side.

And into a clearing in front of a gate on a forested planet, a clearing surrounded by armed Marines.

“Rodney!” Elizabeth cried. She stood beside Colonel Sumner behind the rank of Marines, all of whom were poised to shoot.

“Dr. Weir, we managed to raise the city,” Rodney said.

Sumner eyed John. “Who’s this with you?”

“He’s an Ancient,” Rodney said. “That power spike was from some kind of stasis chamber. It must have been set to reanimate him as soon as the city was initialized. His name is John Sheppard.”

“That’s a very Earth-sounding name,” Sumner said.

“Atlantis has some kind of built-in translation system. He was speaking Ancient at first. It’s the Earth equivalent of his Ancient name,” Rodney said. “The ZPM is intact, though. We can go back to the city now. John knows his way around. He can be our guide.”

“Excellent,” Elizabeth said. She pushed past the Marines and pulled Rodney into a hug.

He stiffened in her arms, alarmed.

“You could have died,” Elizabeth murmured. “Don’t ever do that again. You don’t give the orders, understand? Not either of you.” She stepped back and cast O’Neill a sharp look.

He inclined his head deferentially. “Apologies, ma’am. Sir.”

“Well, we’re not dead, and we’ve made contact with at least one Ancient,” Rodney said, “so I think this expedition is off to a good start. There’s not nearly enough energy to dial back to Earth, though.”

“We’ll find a way to reach them,” Elizabeth said. “Right now I’m just glad we’re all alive and that we haven’t lost the city.” She stepped toward John. “Hello. I’m Dr. Elizabeth Weir, the leader of this expedition.”

John bowed at the waist. “I am honored to serve you, Princess.”

“No, I’m not a princess -”

“He calls Rodney ‘master’,” O’Neill said. “Could be a translation system error.”

“We are honored by your presence,” Elizabeth said. “Are there more of you?”

John straightened up. “No, I’m the last. My master and the others went through the Astria Porta to Terra, to begin anew, because the Republic couldn’t stand against The Wraith.”

“That’s the second time we’ve heard about these Wraith,” Elizabeth said. She glanced at Sumner. “This is Colonel Sumner, the military leader of this expedition. Of course you’ve already met O’Neill.”

“And Markham and Stackhouse, yes.”

Rodney blinked. “We didn’t tell you their names.”

“I know what I need to know through The Force.” John shrugged.

“The Force?” Sumner asked.

“The Gene,” O’Neill said. “He says it’s strong with me, less with Marks and Stacks, zilch with McKay, so.”

“You mean you can read minds?” Rodney was horrified. Did John know Rodney thought he was hot? Because this was a very inopportune time to go noticing anyone was hot.

John said, “It’s impolite, to spy on other people’s minds. But some things, like names, aren’t hidden.”

Elizabeth looked as shaken as Rodney felt. “Well, we’ve made some new friends. Let’s go say hello and see what we can’t find out about these Wraith. Then we can head back to Atlantis.”

Sumner ordered his Marines to stand down, and Elizabeth led Rodney away from the gate, toward a primitive-looking settlement in the distance.

“Are they also Ancient?” Either the people on this planet were very primitive or they were post-technological, judging by their tents and huts and open fires. Rodney saw no signs of agriculture or animal husbandry.

“They don’t have any Ancient technology,” Elizabeth said, “but there are ruins nearby that may be Ancient in origin.”

“Ancient ruins could mean a ZPM,” Rodney said.

“Our thoughts exactly,” Sumner said. “So, John Sheppard. What did you do? Before you took a long nap.”

“I’m a knight of the New Republic,” John said. “I defend peace and justice in the galaxy.”

“A soldier, then?”

“Sometimes.” John smiled, his expression almost serene but for the quirk at the corner of his mouth that Rodney knew, already, was amusement.

Sumner looked unamused.

“Colonel,” Elizabeth said, “start sending some of the scientists and your men back to Atlantis to continue settling in.”

“Markham and Stackhouse are watching the gate,” O’Neill said.

Sumner nodded and hollered for Ford, his Marine lieutenant and, by all accounts, second-in-command. Ford was serious but young and Rodney wondered if he really could command all the soldiers, should something happen to Sumner.

“John says the people of Athos are kind and wise,” Rodney said.

“So far they have proven kind.” Elizabeth led them toward a tent that was large and looked like the primitive forerunner to a Norse drinking hall. She paused at the threshold, and the others paused behind her.

“I wish to speak to Teyla Emmagan, daughter of Torren Emmagan,” she said.

The leader of these people was a woman. Were they a matriarchal society? Their clothes looked hand-made. Rodney was no anthropologist, but he’d guess they were hunter-gatherers. Some hunter-gatherers had been matriarchal, right? Teyla was probably old and weathered but strong and fierce, a natural warrior.

Rodney drew himself up, attempted to look dignified. He was the chief science officer, after all.

Teyla was young and pretty, though the grace with which she carried herself spoke of some physical prowess. To Rodney’s eyes she moved more like a dancer than a hunter, but she wore sturdy, hand-stitched leathers and was armed with an impressive hunting knife.

“Dr. Weir.” Teyla inclined her head politely. “How may we be of assistance?”

“Good news.” Elizabeth smiled. “Dr. McKay was able to save the city of Atlantis from sinking, and we will be returning there as soon as we can. I wanted to thank you for your kindness and generosity in offering to let our people remain, if it became necessary, and extend to you our offer of assistance, should you ever need it.”

“That is most kind.”

It sounded like Teyla was speaking English, but the cadence with which she spoke was oddly formal. No one had ever really gotten to the bottom of the gate’s translation system. John, by contrast, had an American accent.

“We were also wondering if you could tell us more about the Wraith,” Elizabeth said. “According to John, Atlantis was submerged to protect it from the Wraith.”

Teyla turned to John, and her eyes went wide. “You are a Jedi!”

“John Sheppard,” he said, bowing slightly.

Elizabeth blinked. “What’s a Jedi?”

“They were the guardians of the Ancestors, fierce warriors, honorable souls,” Teyla said. “I recognized the symbol.”

John, Rodney realized, was wearing a black wrist cuff with an insignia stitched into it in red thread, curved like a crescent moon but peaked into some kind of triple-pointed spike in the middle.

“I heard legends in my childhood, but no one I know has ever met one, and I have traded on many planets.”

“If it makes you feel any better,” John said, “I haven’t met any others recently either.”

Teyla looked startled by his levity, but John just shrugged at her. Disconcerted, she turned back to Elizabeth. “What do you wish to know about the Wraith?”

“Everything you know,” Elizabeth said.

Shadows crossed Teyla’s face. “I hope there are some things about the Wraith that you never learn. My mother was culled when I was a child. But please, come, share some tea, and I will tell you what our people know.”

What Teyla knew was little, but frightening enough. The Wraith were technologically advanced, had fast little fighters, came zooming down from outer space, zapped people up in light, and - ate them. Drained the life from them. Sometimes they had ground troops, to round up anyone who’d tried to run and hide. And they would dial the gate, so the inhabitants of the planet couldn’t dial out. Whoever these Wraith were, they’d frightened the Ancients into abandoning Atlantis and fleeing to Earth.

“That settles it,” Rodney said. “We need to find a ZPM and get Atlantis up and running so we can be ready if these Wraith ever show up.”

Teyla explained that the Wraith only came once every generation or so, but everyone in Pegasus had to be prepared. No one, Teyla said, lived long lives, not while the Wraith were ruling the galaxy.

“Where would you find this ZPM?” she asked.

“Those ruins are a good start,” Rodney said. “They have a bit of an Ancient flair to them.”

“The old city,” Teyla said. “It was abandoned long ago. Some believe it is cursed, but our ancestors used to live there. Legends say it was possessed of great technology.”

“And food,” John said.

Rodney had almost forgotten he was there.

“Really great food.” John nodded earnestly, and Rodney realized.

John was thousands of years old. He remembered what the city had been like before it was abandoned.

“I used to play there, as a child,” Teyla said. “I know my way around. I can guide you.”

“You’re not going without some back-up,” Elizabeth said. “O’Neill?”

“I’ll go find the Colonel, ma’am.”

Rodney had forgotten he was there, too. O’Neill peeled away from where he’d been standing behind John and trotted across the flattened grass to a cluster of Marines. Teyla conferred with some other of her people, and then she gathered up her gear - a sturdy leather jacket, a pair of short wooden staves she affixed to her belt, and a sling.

O’Neill returned with Lieutenant Ford and a couple more Marines.

“Colonel Sumner will send more as people get settled in to Atlantis,” Ford said.

Teyla led them away from her settlement and toward the ruins on the other side of the river, which necessitated crossing the shallow part of the river in freezing water almost up to their knees. Teyla crossed without hesitation, and O’Neill and the soldiers followed with nary a blink. Elizabeth sucked in a sharp breath when she took her first step, but she followed after only the briefest pause.

Rodney hovered on the bank.

“Do you want me to carry you?” John asked.

For a second Rodney was tempted to say yes, but he wasn’t sure John wasn’t joking, so he took a deep breath and stepped into the water.

And promptly swore in French.

Elizabeth cast him a wide-eyed look, and Rodney belatedly remembered she was a skilled linguist in her own right, if not on par with Jackson (no one was on par with Jackson).

O’Neill actually laughed. “I think this is where you say _Pardon my French_ , McKay.”

Rodney swore at him in French. The water was damn cold. His feet were going numb, and fast. He was halfway across the river when his foot, which he could barely feel, hit something slick, and he stumbled.

“Easy, Master,” John murmured, catching him at the waist and steadying him.

“I told you, call me Rodney,” he said, blushing. Up close, John was warm, and he actually smelled good.

“Rodney,” John said obligingly, and when Rodney glanced back at him, he was wearing that smirk.

Rodney righted himself, shook off John’s hands, and continued slogging through the water after Teyla and the rest. When they reached the bank, people paused to shake the water out of their shoes, but then the soldiers were affixing flashlights to their rifles and talking about spreading out, checking grids.

It was decided that O’Neill and the two Marines would be one search party, what with O’Neill having the Gene to handle any Ancient tech they found, and Ford would keep an eye on Elizabeth, Rodney, and John, under Teyla’s guidance, having John’s Gene at their disposal. Ford and O’Neill would keep in radio contact to make sure no one got lost.

Teyla, as it turned out, had a device that functioned like a lighter, and the first place they headed was a cave, which Teyla said she had never explored deeply. Rodney described a ZPM for her, and she said she’d never seen anything like it, so the first place to search was a place Teyla hadn’t looked before. Teyla led the way, a torch in hand.

Halfway into the tunnel, which Teyla explained her Ancestors had used to hide from the Wraith in times past, Ford called a halt.

Knelt. Beckoned Teyla over with her torch, and something glinted in the dirt. Ford dug with both hands and came up with - a necklace.

Teyla’s expression sobered when she saw it. “I do not know how you found this,” she said, taking it from him with careful hands. “This was mine when I was a child. I lost it when - when the Wraith came and took my mother.” She smiled at Ford and said, “Thank you. Perhaps the Ancestors guided you to me and my people.”

“Here, let me help,” Ford said, and he fumbled, trying to fasten the necklace on Teyla. The kid was probably blushing beneath his tan.

Rodney didn’t roll his eyes, but it was a close thing. John had been moving quietly behind him the entire time. Instead of a flashlight, he had a little piece of metal in one hand, that looked like the same substance the Chair in Antarctica was made of, only it glowed faint blue, Ancient blue.

For a man who claimed to be a knight and a soldier, John carried no weapons, not even a firearm. He had some metal cylinder affixed to his belt at his hip, though it looked too short to be an effective weapon of any kind. Unless it was some kind of grenade, maybe?

“So, John Sheppard,” Rodney said, “you’ve encountered these Wraith before. What are they like?”

“They’re hungry.”

“What’s their technology like?”

“Advanced. They have fighter ships capable of both atmospheric and space flight, and their hive ships have hyperspace capability. They have stasis chambers to contain their prey, subspace communication capabilities, and limited use of The Force. They belong to the Dark Side. They can trick your mind and sometimes read your mind,” John said. “But they aren’t Jedi.”

“Dark Side,” Rodney echoed. It sounded like something out of an epic fantasy novel, good versus evil. “How do they power their ships?”

John shrugged.

“What are their ships like?”

“Their ships are - alive, after a fashion.” John’s expression was blank.

Rodney wondered what John had seen of the Wraith, the Wraith who drove the Ancients, the builders of the Stargates, to flee to Earth.

Up front, Elizabeth was asking Teyla questions about her people, and their trade practices, and the most technologically-advanced societies she was aware of out in the wider galaxy. It sounded like the Wraith, just like the Goa’uld, prevented any human populations from becoming too technologically advanced and therefore a threat.

They searched several tunnels, but Teyla advised they head back to her settlement before the river became too cold to cross.

Ford, who’d been on the radio with O’Neill, agreed to head back to the settlement. They would head back to Atlantis to help everyone else get settled in, then see about searching the ruins more thoroughly, when they had more manpower to commit to the search.

Teyla invited Elizabeth and the rest of them to dine with her people, as a first step toward an official treaty, and Ford and O’Neill went back and forth on the radio deciding who should stay to protect Elizabeth and Rodney and who should go back to Atlantis. By the time they made it back to the Athosian settlement, Sumner was there. He sent O’Neill back to Atlantis to keep an eye on the Marines while Ford stayed with him, for diplomatic purposes.

Rodney gave O’Neill some instructions to take back to Zelenka. For someone who was supposedly out of the chain of command, O’Neill had an awful lot of command authority over the Marines. He didn’t seem to mind, headed to the gate with the last of the Marines, so as not to leave too big a delegation to impose on Teyla’s people.

Sumner continued to eye John warily, but Teyla said she had questions about John and the Jedi, and would he bless her people with his presence?

John inclined his head politely, his expression somber, and that was decided.

The meal was simple fare, served at the table in the main tent. Elizabeth warned Rodney with a glance not to turn his nose up at it. He was careful to sniff it, wary for anything that even hinted at lemon or orange, but the food really wasn’t bad. Teyla and Halling, who was an older man with longer, grayer hair, talked to Elizabeth and Sumner about the expedition and their plans with the city. Teyla looked like she wanted to talk to John, but the Athosian children had corralled him into eating with them on the ground just outside the tent.

They were all over him, petting his spiky hair curiously, asking about his wristband - not a sign of his being a Jedi but a symbol of his being a pilot - and if he could do any tricks with The Force. He told them that the Force was not meant for petty tricks, but for preserving Justice and Peace. Rodney had just dragged his attention back to Teyla and Elizabeth and Sumner when a chorus of delighted _oohs_ rose up from the children, but when Rodney turned back to John, John was eating calmly, though hints of amusement curved his lips.

After the meal, John managed to dismiss the children, and he came to stand at Rodney’s side, one step back and to the left, as deferential as a servant.

Teyla was explaining that the Athosians were not, by nature, farmers, but they did know of sturdy crops and small plants that could be grown indoors, should the expedition need to supplement their food supply, when John tensed.

He said, “The Wraith are coming.”

Halling blinked at him. “What?”

“The Wraith are coming,” John said again. “You must hide yourselves, now.”

Teyla started to rise, but Halling said, “I don’t hear any of their ships.”

“I can feel it, in The Force.” His gaze was distant, like it had been on Atlantis, when he was making the city rise. “You must take your people and run.”

Halling looked skeptical, but Teyla hurried out of the tent and began calling for people to gather their emergency supplies and head for the tunnels.

“Even if the Wraith are not on their way,” she said to Halling, “it will not hurt them to be prepared.”

“Ma’am,” Sumner began, turning to Elizabeth, “we should head for the gate.”

Elizabeth nodded, but a high-pitched whine filled the air.

“They’re here!” John grabbed Rodney’s arm and pushed him in the direction of the trees. “Run! They can’t cull you if they can’t get a direct beam on you!”

“The gate,” Sumner said.

Teyla shook her head. “They will be blocking the gate so we cannot escape. We must run.”

“I told you,” Halling growled. “The ruins are cursed. You should not -”

“Now is not the time,” John snapped. “All of you, to the caves.”

Rodney stared at him. “And what, you’re going to take on the Wraith yourself?”

Enemy craft sped by overhead. They were all angles and sharp points, but there was something - organic, to the way they looked. They had no windshields. Were they unmanned? They were the sound of that awful whine.

People screamed and scattered, and Rodney saw lights emit from the underside of the craft. Anyone caught in the light just - vanished.

This was it. The culling.

Rodney could only stare, transfixed, as one of those beams swept toward him. And then he was flung sideways by something or someone. He hit the ground hard and lay there, stunned and breathless. He saw a child running, trying to outpace a deadly beam of light, and Teyla lunged, knocked the child aside. Had she rescued him, too?

And then he saw Teyla get swallowed in that sickly yellow light.

A scream rose above the rest. Elizabeth.

Rodney pushed himself to his feet and saw she was on the ground. She was screaming Sumner’s name. _Marshall!_

John was shouting for people to head for the caves. He was doing what looked like - some kind of dance. Or one of those fancy memorized martial arts routines. Only with every sweep of his hands, someone was knocked out of the reach of one of those beams.

He really did have telekinesis.

Rodney started for the trees, where John had tried to get him to go in the first place, and then someone was tugging on his arm.

“C’mon, Doc, we gotta go.” It was Ford.

Ford’s face was the last thing Rodney saw before he was swallowed in a beam of that awful yellow light.

Rodney blinked a second later, and he was in - inside of some kind of creature. In its belly, or its throat, the walls fleshy and gray-purple and pulsing.

And then he remembered. He’d been captured. And John had said the Wraith ships were - living. Sort of. He must have been on one of their - what did John call them? Hives. Like insects.

The Wraith who hauled Rodney to his feet were massive, muscular, wearing grey leather armor. They had arms and legs and torsos and were mostly humanoid. They had long white hair and no faces. Rodney couldn’t even scream. They grabbed him and Ford and a bunch of Athosians and dragged them through the pulsing walls of the ship to cells. They were halfway to the cells before Rodney figured out that the Wraith were wearing helmets. He remembered their attack craft hadn’t had windshields. Were they blind? Did they navigate by scent or echolocation or -

The Wraith shoved, and Rodney stumbled into the cell. Teyla was there, along with Halling and a bunch of other Athosians. Ford stumbled in behind him, cursing at the Wraith.

“Rodney, Aiden,” Teyla said, and it took Rodney a moment to figure out she meant Ford. “You are alive.”

“Where’s Colonel Sumner?” Ford asked. They’d taken his weapons but not his tac vest.

“The Wraith took him,” Halling said grimly.

“What are they going to do with him?” Rodney asked and immediately regretted it, because Halling said,

“They are going to feed on him.”

Rodney swallowed the bile that rose in his throat. “How long have you been here?”

“I do not know,” Teyla admitted. “Time passes oddly, with no sun, and I do not know how long we were on their attack craft.”

Rodney peered through the bars of the cell. They were irregular, angled. Made of the same bio-type material as the rest of the ship. Were they nerves? Were they veins? Or tendons? If he plucked on them, would they cause the ship pain? He hoped so. “Elizabeth will send someone for us.”

Ford moved to stand beside him, also peered through the bars. “I sure as hell hope so.”

Teyla said, “John will come for us.”

Ford slewed her a glance. “Why? He’s not one of our people, and he’s not one of yours.”

“He is a Jedi Knight. He will save us.”

Rodney would have found her unshakeable faith more reassuring if he believed in a higher power. On the other hand, he was pretty sure he’d seen John using actual telekinesis. John, who wasn’t an Ascended Ancient. An Ascended being wouldn’t have bothered to help them, after all. Couldn’t. Because of stupid rules.

“What does that even mean?” Ford asked.

Rodney heard a strange humming, and he recoiled sharply, mindful of the strange high-pitched whine that had preceded the arrival of the Wraith. Could be armed Wraith approaching.

Something blue lit the end of the hall, and there was a thump. Rodney smelled burning flesh, and he saw -

A Wraith head. Rolling along the corridor.

John came striding around the corner, and he was carrying a sword, a sword made of blue light. The strange metal cylinder he’d kept at his hip was the hilt.

“Step back,” he said, meeting Rodney’s gaze, and he backpedaled rapidly, sweeping Teyla and Halling and Ford with him.

There was a crescendo of humming, and John raised his sword, slashed at the wall opposite the cell.

The doors slid open.

“Come with me,” John said. “Quietly.” He turned and headed back the way he came.

Rodney scrambled after him, trying his best to be stealthy but sure someone could hear how loud his heart was pounding. He rounded the corner and saw -

A dead, headless Wraith.

Teyla knelt and scooped up the Wraith’s weapon, held it like it was an assault rifle.

“Take the next one you find,” she said to Ford, who nodded.

Rodney hurried after John. “Did you come to get us out of here? Where are we going? Are you going to fly us out of here? You’re a pilot, right?”

John said nothing, kept walking. He did something to his sword so the light vanished, but he kept the hilt in his hand. Didn’t want the humming to give him away, Rodney realized, so he shut up.

As they wove further and further through the maze of hallways and doors, Rodney had the sinking feeling that John had no idea where they were going, but Halling and Ford and even Rodney were able to pick up weapons from dead Wraith soldiers as they went.

And then they turned another corner, and there was O’Neill.

“Found him.” O’Neill kept his voice low. His expression was grim. “They’ve got him in some kind of audience chamber. They’re interrogating him. There’s a - a female.”

“A queen,” John hissed. “Earth is technically advanced, right? Full of people?”

O’Neill nodded, and realization dawned for him at the same time as it did for Rodney.

“If they find out where Earth is -” Rodney began.

“Earth’s a freakin’ all-you-can-eat.” O’Neill glanced at Ford. “We need to rescue Colonel Sumner now.” He turned to Rodney. “McKay, stay here. Ford, you’re with me. John, you keep an eye on McKay - and Halling. Teyla, with me.”

John nodded, and O’Neill and Ford broke away from them, slunk along the hall. John turned and led Rodney and Halling in another direction - to a window, overlooking a vast, shadowed chamber, where a woman-like Wraith in a long white dress - she had too-red hair - was pacing circles around Sumner, who was on his knees.

Rodney couldn’t hear what they were saying, but he heard the Wraith woman roar in rage. She slammed her hand against Sumner’s chest - his shirt had been torn open - and Sumner squeezed his eyes shut in agony.

And aged.

 _They are going to feed on him,_ Halling had said.

The Wraith was sucking out Sumner’s life force.

The Wraith were space vampires.

Halling was huddled against the wall, deliberately turned away from the scene, unable to watch.

“She’s killing him,” Rodney hissed.

John’s expression was dangerously blank.

Rodney grabbed John’s shoulder, shook him. “John, she’s _killing him_.”

A single gunshot rang out, and Sumner crumpled.

The Wraith screamed and wrenched her hand back. She flung a hand in the direction of the doors at the far end of the chamber, and some of those faceless soldiers went marching.

Gunshot meant human, meant Earther, meant Ford or O’Neill, but they were trained soldiers, and they’d run, right?

“Hold this,” John said. He thrust the hilt of his glowy sword into Rodney’s hand. “But not too tightly.”

“What? Why?” But Rodney accepted the deactivated hilt, holding it gingerly in case it sprang to life when he hit a button by mistake.

John dove through the open window and down into the chamber below. Rodney swallowed a cry of surprise. It was a long way down. He was a physicist. He understood mass and acceleration and force and John was _going to die._

John hit the ground and rolled up to his feet.

Impossible.

He should’ve died.

If not died, at least broken a bone.

The Wraith spun to face him, and her hiss filled the entire chamber. “Jedi.”

John spread his hands, showing he was unarmed. “Keeper.”

The Wraith had names? That sounded more like a title than a name. Names didn’t matter if John was going to be eaten, though. Rodney would never stop to ask a tiger its name before it ripped his throat out.

Except - John already knew her name.

The Wraith circled him, wary. “All the Jedi are dead.”

“And yet here I am.”

“If your kind is not yet extinct, I will help you on your way.” The Wraith lunged at John.

John sidestepped her neatly, extended a hand - and the metal cylinder flew out of Rodney’s hand. John caught it, and it ignited, and the Wraith woman screamed as her right hand fell to the floor.

“You cannot stop us,” the Wraith panted, clutching her wrist-stump. “We know where you come from, and we will rise, and we will feed.”

John deactivated his sword and stretched his hand out, right in front of the Wraith’s face, and she went still. John’s brow furrowed, and the Wraith moaned, twisting, struggling against some unseen force.

Another gunshot rang out.

John whipped around, sword glowing once more, and actually sliced the bullet out of the air. Impossible.

He shouted, “No, Ford, don’t!”

The Wraith woman screamed and lunged at him.

John spun, one arm up to block her, and a third gunshot rang out.

The Wraith woman dropped like a stone.

John stared at her corpse, pale.

He was _terrified._

“No. You shouldn’t have killed her. I could have taken the memory from her. You killed the Keeper.”

Ford came darting out into the chamber. He knelt beside Sumner, checked his pulse. Then he shook his head, retrieved Sumner’s dog tags, and stood up. “C’mon, John. It’s time to go.”

John was still staring at the corpse.

Ford tugged on his arm. “We killed her, we didn’t die. We won. Now come on, let’s get back to Atlantis.”

John tipped his head back. “No, we haven’t won. We have lost, all over again.”

Rodney followed his gaze and leaned out the window, peered toward the ceiling.

And saw - cells. Like in a beehive, translucent walls, glowing, and behind them humanoid figures shifted.

“The Wraith,” John said. “You killed their Keeper, and now they’re waking.”

“How many of those are there?” Ford asked, pale beneath his tan.

“As numberless as the sands of the sea, the dust of the Earth, and the stars in the sky,” John said.

O’Neill came barreling into the chamber. “Now is not the time for poetry. Ex-fil. Now. Let’s go.”

Teyla appeared at Rodney’s side. She put a hand on Halling’s shoulder and spoke to him quickly and quietly, and then she shouted, “Come on, McKay. We must make our escape.”

Their escape involved meeting up with the other captives John and O’Neill had rescued and climbing onto what looked like a giant grey log but was apparently some kind of spacecraft. John headed straight for the pilot seat, and O’Neill took the copilot seat. Ford sat behind O’Neill, so Rodney sat behind John. The rear hatch hissed shut, and as Rodney stared out the front viewport, the ship began to rise.

“This ship has inertial dampeners?” Rodney asked.

“And a key,” John said.

“Key?” Rodney peered between the front seats.

The control console was covered in buttons, some of which were - the same symbols as on the gate in the gateroom in Atlantis.

“Dialing device,” O’Neill said. “You’re damn lucky the Wraith hive didn’t jump into hyperspace after the culling. We can use the gate on Athos to get back to Atlantis.”

Rodney had never flown in outer space before, but he didn’t have the opportunity to enjoy the view as John guided the ship swiftly down to the planet.

“What happened back there?” O’Neill asked.

“The Keeper watches over the Wraith while they sleep,” John said. “The Wraith sleep between feedings. Only a few of them feed, to keep the others safe, but when the time comes, they all wake, and they all hunt.”

“That is when they have mass cullings,” Teyla said. “Such as when my parents were taken.”

“And when the Keeper died?” O’Neill asked.

“Her entire hive awoke. Other hives will wake. All the hives will wake.”

“She knew where Earth was,” Ford said in a low, tight voice. “You heard her.”

“Did she manage to tell the other Wraith what she learned?” O’Neill asked.

John shook his head. “No. But her death triggered the end of their sleep.”

Teyla, who was standing just behind Ford’s chair, asked, “How do you know all this?”

“Because,” John said, “I fought the Wraith in the last great war. Ten-thousand years ago.”

Teyla blinked. “That is a very long time.”

“Like the Wraith, I slept.”

Ford narrowed his eyes. “But now you’re awake.”

John said, softly, “There is one of me and so, so many of them.”

O’Neill glanced at him. “You say the Force is strong with me, right? So teach me to be like you.”

John met O’Neill’s gaze. “You aren’t what you seem.”

“None of us are.” But O’Neill slid his gaze away. He told Teyla that her people had been evacuated to Atlantis, but they could stop on her planet and gather any of her belongings, but she said to go straight through the gate to Atlantis, that she could return at a later time to see if there was anything else she needed.

John guided the ship through the gate and into the gate room. He landed to release the passengers, and Rodney stumbled out with Halling and Teyla and the rest. He watched, awed and exhausted, as a portion of the roof retracted so John could take the ship back to the ship bay, and then he followed O’Neill and Ford up the stairs to where Elizabeth was waiting in front of the central command console.

“Rodney, Lieutenant Ford, I’m glad you made it back. Any news on Colonel Sumner?”

Ford handed her the dog tags.

They gleamed on her open palm for a moment like the edge of a blade, and then she closed her fingers over them and let her hand fall to her side.

“He died a hero, ma’am,” Ford said.

Elizabeth glanced at O’Neill, who said, “I’ll handle the paperwork for the commendations.”

“In the meantime, then,” Elizabeth said, “First Lieutenant Jonathan O’Neill, you are the interim military commander of Atlantis, until we re-establish communication with Earth.”

O’Neill paused, glanced at Ford.

“I’m just a second lieutenant,” Ford said, shrugging.

“Have you looked at me lately?” O’Neill asked. “I mean, my face. Because Lieutenant Ford here is - what, twenty-five?”

“On the nose, sir,” Ford said.

Elizabeth sighed. “Jack -”

“With all due respect, ma’am, I prefer Nathan.”

“If we tell the Marines, they’ll understand.”

Rodney had the sense that he was watching a tennis match, only he was too exhausted from coming off the adrenaline rush of capture and escape that he had no idea who was playing whom and what the score was and whose serve it was. “Tell the Marines what?”

O’Neill said, “Let’s get Teyla and her people settled first, deal with the details later.”

“The Marines need a chain of command.” Elizabeth narrowed her eyes. “This expedition is staffed by plenty of veterans of Stargate Command. They’ll understand.”

“The decision is yours, ma’am,” O’Neill said finally, after eyeing her for a long moment. “But let’s tackle one problem at a time. Ford and I are the only commissioned officers. As long as we stay in communication, the Marines can’t play mommy and daddy against each other.”

“Does that make me mommy?” Ford asked, his tone deliberately light.

“I am going to tell them,” Elizabeth said.

Rodney rolled his eyes. “Hello, chief science officer here. Tell them what?”

“That O’Neill isn’t what he seems.” John came sauntering down the steps.

“This from the guy who cut a bullet out of midair with his glowy sword.” O’Neill turned to him. “Really, you’ve got to teach me how to do that.”

“My weapon is called a lightsaber.” John said. He turned to Elizabeth, bowed slightly. “Princess, we have a lot to talk about.”

“Please, Elizabeth, or Weir. How many times do I have to tell you?”

“At least a hundred more.” John straightened up, and he followed Elizabeth to her office.

Rodney trailed after him. “Does that mean you’re going to start that Master Rodney business again?”

“Better you than Sergeant Bates,” Ford muttered, and O’Neill stifled a snort.

Teyla and Halling looked confused.

John caught Rodney’s eye and said, “When all of this has settled into something resembling normal, ask me again, and you’ll find out.”


End file.
